The present disclosure generally relates to displaying content to a user wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) as part of an artificial reality system, and specifically relates to a dynamic attenuator as part of the HMD for combining real world and virtual content.
Artificial reality systems may enable users to have more immersive experiences than ordinary television or game consoles can provide. While wearing an HMD, a user can view different portions of a captured scene or an artificially generated scene simply by orienting his or her head, just as the user naturally does to view a real-world environment. The scene may be presented in the HMD to the user based on the position and orientation of the user's head, such that the scene changes based on changes in the position and orientation of the user's head. A mobile artificial reality system can also account for the movement of the user as the user walks around in the real-world environment, such that the user perceives him or herself to be moving in a virtual environment.
Although immersive, these features may permit the user to engage with the virtual environment in a way that causes the user to forget important aspects of the user's real-world environment. For example, a user trying to walk from one position in a virtual environment to another position may fail to account for (or be unable to see) a real-world obstacle, such as a table, a couch, or a wall due to the user's lack of awareness of the real-world environment. This may result in a collision with the real-world environment or a feature in the real-world environment.